Johnston has quickest goal to start
a Stars playoff game in 6-2 win over Avs for 3-2 series lead
[April 29, 2025]
By STEPHEN HAWKINS
DALLAS (AP) — Wyatt Johnston scored the quickest goal ever to start
a playoff game for the Dallas Stars, who had a well-timed immediate
response back at home in their first-round series against the
Colorado Avalanche.
Wyatt Johnston scored 9 seconds into Game 5, then added another goal
and an assist for the Stars in a 6-2 win Monday night to take a 3-2
series lead.
“We did probably our best job generating chances tonight and it
showed. ... Just a huge win,” Johnston said.
“I’m not surprised by our response. We’ve got a proud group,” said
coach Pete DeBoer, whose team lost 4-0 in Game 4 on the road two
nights earlier. “The last game, we played a poor game. It happens.
In a seven-game series you're going to have a night where you're
off. And we were off and we owned it and we fixed it, and we
responded.”
Mikko Rantanen, who was with the Avalanche in the playoffs the past
seven seasons, scored his first postseason goal and had two assists
for the Stars as they took a 3-2 series lead.
"We knew as the top guys we needed to step up a little bit and play
a little bit better defensively and try to get on the scoresheet a
little bit more," Rantanen said.
Game 6 is Thursday night in Colorado, where the Stars clinched their
second-round series last season.
After Artturi Lehkonen and Nathan MacKinnon scored 2 1/2 minutes
apart for the Avs in the second period to get them to 3-2, Johnston
scored on a power play that included a secondary assist from
Rantanen.
Mason Marchment restored Dallas' three-goal lead before the end of
the second period when he deflected Alexander Petrovic's long slap
shot past goalie Mackenzie Blackwood.
Dallas goalie Jake Oettinger stopped 27 shots.
Blackwood, who allowed only seven goals the first four games, gave
up five on 18 shots before Scott Wedgewood took over in net to start
the third period. Wedgewood, who was Oettinger's backup the past two
seasons, had eight saves.
Johnston's record-setting starter goal came off the opening faceoff,
when he shot from the immediate left of the net. The 21-year-old
forward already in his 43rd career playoff game was skating toward
the back wall and passing the red line when he took the shot that
ricocheted off Blackwood.
“I just saw just a little opening,” Johnston said. “Figured why not,
let’s try it. Got lucky.”
It was the first goal this postseason for Johnston, and his third
multigoal playoff game.
[to top of second column] |
Dallas Stars center Wyatt Johnston skates after scoring during the
first period of Game 5 of a first-round NHL hockey playoff series
against the Colorado Avalanche in Dallas, Monday, April 28, 2025.
(AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)
The previous fastest goal to start a Stars playoff
game came when Jeff Halpern scored 24 seconds into Game 2 of a
first-round series against Vancouver on April 13, 2007.
Johnston became just the eighth player in NHL history to score
within the first 9 seconds of a playoff game. The record is still
held by Don Kozak for the Los Angeles Kings, who scored 6 seconds
into a game against Boston on April 17, 1977.
Dallas had led only 62 seconds in the first four games, which
included two four-goal losses and back-to-back overtime wins in
Games 2 and 3.
“I think we answered really well. It’s also big to start the way we
did,” Rantanen said. “It’s a lot easier when you play with a lead,
and I think that was our first lead for a while in the series. So
it’s a key factor.”
Then in the final minute of the first period, Johnston got the
assist on Thomas Harley's goal that Blackwood initially blocked with
his right arm. But the puck popped up in the air and came down
behind the goalie, bouncing off his back and into the net.
“It’s easy to fall down three when we give up those first two. A
couple of strange goals for sure,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “We
definitely needed to get sharper on the defensive side early in the
game, but we pushed back and created some good chances at the other
end.”
Rantanen made it 3-0 early in the second period on a break with
fellow Finnish player Roope Hintz, who after initially getting the
puck sent it back with a cross-ice pass to set up Rantanen's short
snap shot for his 35th career playoff goal.
Hintz added an empty-net goal with 2:05 left, on an assist from
Rantanen.
Colorado traded Rantanen on Jan. 24 to Carolina in the East, where
he played only 13 games. A deadline deal March 7 sent him back to
the Central Division with the Stars and included a $96 million,
eight-year contract extension.
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